New York plane crash: Calm, collected pilot 'was like David Niven'

The wife of the pilot who saved 155 lives by ditching his stricken aircraft in New York's Hudson River has described how he calmly phoned her to say: "There's been an accident."

Image 1 of 2

Chesley B Sullenberger: Mr Sullenberger runs his own company which advises on how to apply safety techniques learnt in aviation to other fieldsPhoto: REUTERS

Image 1 of 2

David Niven: Captain Chesley B Sullenberger III was like 'David Niven in a pilot's uniform'Photo: HULTON/GETTY

By Gordon Rayner and Tom Leonard

8:07PM GMT 16 Jan 2009

Captain Chesley B Sullenberger III became an instant hero in America after pulling off one of aviation's all-time great escapes, but refuses to accept that he is a real-life "Superman", as one police official described him.

Witnesses said he was so unruffled after making it back to dry land that he was more like "David Niven in a pilot's uniform."

Mr Sullenberger's wife, Lorrie, said she had been unaware of Flight 1549's splash landing until she received a call from her 57-year-old husband, who is known as Sully.

"I hadn't been watching the news," said Mrs Sullenberger at her home in Danville, California. "He called me and said: 'There's been an accident.' At first I thought it was something minor, but then he told me the circumstances and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school. I was stunned. Your mind never goes through something like this."

Mrs Sullenberger said of her husband: "He's very controlled, very professional. He's a pilot's pilot. He loves the art of the airplane."

Mr Sullenberger took the life-saving decision to land in the Hudson having realised the aircraft would not make it to the Teterboro Airport on the far side of the river after losing both engines following a bird strike as it took off from La Guardia airport on Thursday afternoon.

Air traffic controllers described an "eerie calm" from the cockpit of the Airbus 320 as the captain told them his intentions.

After performing a textbook emergency landing, which will be studied by student pilots for years to come, the former USAF fighter pilot helped passengers off the aircraft and onto the wings, then walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure no-one was left on board.

One passenger, Billy Campbell, said he went to thank Mr Sullenberger as they sat together in a rescue raft.

"I leaned over and grabbed his arm, and I said 'I just want to thank you on behalf of all of us'. He just said, 'You're welcome'."

Meanwhile the unnamed co-pilot gallantly gave his shirt to another passenger, Barry Leonard, after his own got wet in the river.

A flotilla of ferries and tourist boats arrived on the scene within five minutes, quickly loading the passengers on board. Emergency workers estimated that anyone who fell into the water, which was just above freezing, would have survived for just three to five minutes.

One police source told the New York Daily News: "After the crash, (Mr Sullenberger) was sitting there in the ferry terminal, wearing his hat, sipping his coffee and acting like nothing happened."

Another rescuer added: "He looked absolutely immaculate. He looked like David Niven in a pilot's uniform – he looked unruffled. His uniform was sharp."

Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, will now present Mr Sullenberger and his crew with the key to the city in recognition of their courage.

Mayor Bloomberg said: "Hemingway defined heroism as grace under pressure, and he certainly displayed that yesterday. I have a key to the city and I'm going to hold onto it until we have the opportunity to present it to the incredibly brave pilot, co-pilot and crew.

"This is a story of heroes straight out of a movie script, but if it had been a movie people wouldn't have believed it because it would have been too good to be true."

The aircraft has been towed ashore and is currently tethered to a harbour wall in Manhattan, where cranes were moving into place last night to haul it out of the water, enabling air accident investigators to examine the damaged engines.

Mr Sullenberger is banned from speaking to the media while the investigation is carried out, but one New York Police Department official said: "You got a bird, a plane and Superman. He doesn't have to say anything."